


Labyrinths & Leviathans

by aunt_zelda



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Characters Play Dungeons & Dragons, Friendship, Gen, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27659939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aunt_zelda/pseuds/aunt_zelda
Summary: Essek runs a D&D equivalent for the Mighty Nein.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26
Collections: Critmas Exchange 2020





	Labyrinths & Leviathans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kepler_16b](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kepler_16b/gifts).



> Happy Critmas! I was intrigued by your prompt about Essek. I've recently started running a D&D campaign myself and it was fun to explore that with this character. 
> 
> See end notes for a code to what 'Labyrinths & Leviathans' class related to what D&D class.

It began out of one of their many awkward meals together. The Mighty Nein were at Essek’s house this time. He’d taken his eyes off one of them for a moment and suddenly his game books were being brandished in his face and demands were being made. 

“It’s a game I learned in school,” Essek said, bracing himself for the jokes. _Labyrinths & Leviathans_ was not a popular pursuit and often mocked by others. “You create a character and pretend to play out battles and adventures. It’s about strategy and problem solving.”

He saw many of them losing interest and was relieved. 

Caleb peered at the books. “We had something similar to this at the Assembly. Tunnels & Terrors.”

Essek nodded. “Same basic premise and rules, with some variations. _Labyrinths_ uses 12-sided dice, _Tunnels_ uses six-sided dice.”

“Right! I scrounged for money to buy my first set of dice.” Caleb looks pensive for a moment. “Ah, I miss it.” He looks around at the group. “I think it would be good for us, as a team.” 

There was some dubious muttering from the Mighty Nein about the subject of “nerd games” and “too much math” but ultimately Caleb advocated strongly enough to prevail. Beau was intrigued by the promise of team-building and strategic planning, Jester was already scanning the character bases, and Fjord seemed especially drawn to the prospect of creating a persona to act out. 

Essek had somehow been roped into being the Game Architect. Only Caleb seemed aware of the weight and trust of such a position, and had given Essek a sympathetic look. 

After the Mighty Nein left, Essek pulled several books down from his shelf, and old scrolls from his days in school. He had much to prepare for their first game. Such a large group would require an exciting and challenging Labyrinth to explore. 

Hours later, Essek had a list of characters for the Mighty Nein to meet. He had a stack of monsters for them to fight or outwit. He had sketches of puzzles and traps. 

Relishing the feeling of elation, Essek turned in for the night. He dreamed of a network of tunnels forming a labyrinth full of treasures and trials. 

~*~

Essek eyed the stack of pastries warily. He’d left the Mighty Nein in charge of bringing food for the evening, something he now realized he should perhaps not have done. Pastries were fine, but too much sugar seemed like a recipe for the group becoming distracted during the imaginary fights. 

Food aside, Essek felt confident about the evening’s entertainment. He’d spent his free time for the past month plotting and building up a story to challenge the Mighty Nein’s characters. He’d even rummaged around in storage and found a box of small figurines to array on the table as markers on the map. There’d been some bickering over who got which figurine, and complaints from Veth at the revealing nature of some of the women’s costumes (Beau had taken the one with the most plunging neckline for her character.)

“So, let’s go around and introduce yourselves.” Essek was excited to find out what they’d all picked. 

The Mighty Nein all looked at each other. Clearly they’d kept their characters secret from each other until that moment. 

“I’m Roaring Lion, the Survivalist.” Caduceus said, seemingly unaware of the tension at the table. “He comes from the far north, and the magic has infected him with strange powers and brutal strength.”

“My character is Sunsmasher Oolong!” Veth declared, laying down a crude drawing of a minotaur with a huge sword. “He’s a Champion.”

Essek raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on the resemblance to Sunbreaker Olomon, Champion of Urzin. 

“Well my character is Fiona Fancypants,” Jester said. “She’s a Mystic who lived her life at sea, before the lure of forbidden adventures on dry land brought her to the Labyrinth.”

Fjord frowned. “I wanted to be the Mystic.”

“Well too bad!” Jester stuck out her tongue. “I claimed it first!”

Fjord started scratching out lines on his character sheet and fumbling with some notes. “Ah, ok, I had a second option, come back to me?”

Essek nodded and turned to Yasha, who was next at the table. 

“Uhhhhh her name is … Primrose.” Yasha nodded. “Yeah. And she’s a Musician. She’s really … pretty. And she casts spells through her um, lute.” She hunched her shoulders. 

Essek was surprised to see the powerful warrior so shy now. He made a mental note to specifically ask her what Primrose was doing during the game, to engage her in the story if she was hanging back. 

“I will be playing the Outlaw.” Caleb said. “He’s been condemned to this Labyrinth for his many thefts. His name is Dirk Darkhallow.” 

Essek smiled. That sounded very much like a character from his school days of playing. 

“I’m playing Tatiana Morozova, she’s a Witch.” Beau smirked, waving a long list in the air. “These are all her spells! I’m gonna kick serious monster ass!” 

“Got it!” Fjord held up his new sheet, ink still wet. “Father Featherstone, the Priest archetype.” 

Essek nodded. “That’s good, you’ll need healing powers in the Labyrinth.” 

Lowering the candlelight to something more mysterious, Essek unfolded a map on the table. He placed the figurines along the edge of the map. Most were generics he’d painted as a young student, but the Mighty Nein each had a piece with a distinctive color and that was the important thing.

“This is _Labyrinths & Leviathans_. Your group has been arrested and sentenced to community service: clearing the Labyrinth of its many monsters and numerous trapdoors.”

“Why were we arrested?” Veth yelped. “My character is a noble Champion!” 

“I’m here to prove myself!” Beau struck a pose. “I’m the most powerful witch in the west and this Labyrinth is where I’ll get more recognition for my skills.”

Caleb waved a hand. “Dirk looks around sneakily for something to steal. Is there anything nearby?” 

“I thought this game was about smashing things?” Caduceus scratched his head. “We aren’t smashing things yet.” 

Essek shuffled through his notes. It seemed he’d have to bring out a monster fight sooner than anticipated. The Mighty Nein were impatient for combat.

“Suddenly, a pack of Bullywugs emerges from the labyrinth!” Essek announced, drawing out an assortment of miniature multicolored bipedal frogs. He arranged them on the map facing off against the Mighty Nein’s figurines. 

The Mighty Nein sprung into imaginary action. Roles were discussed, strategies enacted, and fictional spells slung. Soon the Bullywugs were all dead, mostly courtesy of Tatiana (Beau) and Roaring Lion (Caduceus.)

“Ohhhhh I get it now.” Caduceus nodded slowly as Essek swept away the Bullywug figurines. 

“That was fun!” Beau grinned. “Let’s go inside, there’s gotta be more monsters in there right?”

“Dirk examines the bodies for treasure.” Caleb said. 

“Wait, there’s treasure in this game?” Veth’s eyes lit up.

“I didn’t get to use any spells …” Fjord grumbled. 

“That’s ok, you can use plenty in the next fight!” Jester nudged his arm. 

“We’ll be sure to let the monsters start chewing on you before we help.” Veth agreed.

“Hey!” Fjord glared suspiciously at Veth before they both started to laugh. 

As the group laughed and started arguing about the relative healing ratio to combat spells used in real life, Essek started setting up the Labyrinth entrance. 

Essek suspected that the group had long since forgotten his warnings about trapdoors. 

Five minutes later, when half the team had plunged into a pit and had to roll to avoid taking damage from spikes below, Essek was proved right. 

Seeing the determined looks form on the faces of the Mighty Nein, Essek felt a surge of delight. This was even better than it had been when he was a student. Now he understood trap mechanics better, had more innovative ideas, and the players were more engaged with the story. 

Essek couldn’t wait to see how far the Mighty Nein got into his Labyrinth.

**Author's Note:**

> Champion: Paladin (Veth)  
> Musician: Bard (Yasha)  
> Mystic: Warlock (Jester)  
> Witch: Wizard (Beau)  
> Outlaw: Rogue (Caleb)  
> Survivalist: Barbarian (Caduceus)  
> Priest: Cleric (Fjord)


End file.
